Our dining experience last night at Wd~50 was well, quite an experience. We went all out and indulged in the tasting menu although opted out of the wine pairing. Let's just say that towards the end of the evening we equated this type of food, molecular gastronomy, to new media art: An honorable exercise in innovation, some of it's delicious and awe-inspiring and some of it fails miserably. An absolutely worthwhile experience for the curious and adventurous - you are guaranteed a memorable time!
Here it is in chronological order with dishes listed as they appear on menu.
The hungry!
Nice earthy, textured placemats and wooden tables to off-set the less than natural food preparation:
A toast to the curious!
Hamachi, fried corn, lime pickle, grapefruit - delicious:
Shrimp and tarragon macaroons - these were divine and incredibly fun to eat (think cheese puffs):
Foie gras in the round - hated the watercress dollops but otherwise really interesting rice crispies version of foie gras that enabled me to enjoy foie gras - the cacao balls were an incredible pairing that worked magnificently:
"I'm now a yuppie. Not sure how I feel about that..."
Sweetbreads, cabbage-kaffir, water chestnuts - pretty good although I am not entirely comfortable with sweetbreads, the greatest euphemism of cuisine:
Beef tongue, fried mayo, tomato molasses - the tongue resembled a cow tongue too much for me to enjoy it - otherwise the tomato molasses and fried mayo were good:
Miso soup, sesame "noodles":
Interactive food!
This Japanese-inspired dish was greatly appreciated, yummy and fun:
DIY noodles!
Surf clam, watermelon, garlic chive, fermented black bean - this was mediocre:
Lamb belly, black chickpea, cherried cucumber - the lamb belly which was basically bacon was very good but otherwise the dish was only alright:
Cameranda:
Argan oil horchata, cantaloupe, carob - was delicious:
Fried butterscotch pudding, mango taro, smoked macadamia - this was disgusting - the fried butterscotch tasted like hotdogs:
Soft chocolate, avocado, licorice, lime - was remarkable:
"Cool" black currant jelly - pretty cool:
The chef Wylie Dufresne himself:
The satiated foursome:
